This is the oldest catalog I've found so far, from way back when Elbo was still a relatively small chain. Their product selection looked a lot more like an Egghead or Waldensoftware then. In 1987 the NES was really the only game system in town and it was largely sold at toy & "big box" stores. It looks like Elbo hadn't yet joined the party. In just a couple of years Elbo would slowly phase out their software selection in favor of video games. Some might find this catalog boring compared to the later game-filled ones but I think it's a neat little piece of software retail history.
Page 1 - Epyx games
This catalog is grouped by publisher. That works fine on this page but others are going to be a little disjointed because of this. Epyx is a good publisher to open with in 1987.
Page 2 - Entertainment
I was thinking that the SSI selection was kind of weird before realizing their D&D licensed games were still about two years away.
Page 3 - Entertainment
I noted the lack of NES games, but instead there are three Data East games that would be/had been ported to the NES.
Page 4 - Entertainment
DataSoft here was out of business in a year.
Page 5 - Entertainment
Pictured here - a pre-Microsoft version of Flight Simulator.
Page 6 - Entertainment
MicroProse was putting out some big hits already in 1987. Their peak was the early 1990s, after then the brand was bought & sold many times.
Page 7 - Entertainment
Johnny "Jimbo Baby" McGibbits? I think South Park had a character named something close to this.
Page 8 - Entertainment and Productivity
Pretty obvious spelling mistake on this page. I would not be good at writing these descriptions as you can tell from the writing quality on this very page. However, I would do at least OK at proofreading these catalogs.
Page 9 - Productivity and Educational/Entertainment
Kung-Fu II: Sticks of Death only works in a country with no firearms. Lovejoy's Preparation for the SAT probably had to change their name after The Simpsons came out.
Page 10 - Productivity and Entertainment
The box art for the first Space Quest is so bland compared to later games.
Page 11 - Productivity and Entertainment
Moonmist (official name vs. how the catalog spells it) is new to me. I had to search to find that previous note about the name. It sounds interesting.
Page 12 - Entertainment
Howard the Duck: Adventure on Volcano Island sounds like an existing game idea that had a licensed character slapped onto it.
Page 13 - Productivity
I'm disappointed that this is the only page with programming software.
Page 14 - Productivity
Sometimes when working on these posts I get lost in a rabbit hole researching a defunct company. In this case it is Timeworks - whose old home office is possibly now a Thai restaurant that I've been to.
Page 15 - Productivity
Those cheap one-off printing programs were kind of fun to mess around with.
Page 16 - Productivity
$75 in 1987 dollars for a word processor is a tough sell.
Page 17 - Educational
Someone raised on Math Blaster will probably find this early, more sterile, cover interesting.
Page 18 - Educational/Books
I want every one of those close out 99¢ books.
Page 19 - Computer Accessories
I know I've made a similar comment before, but... any of those tape ribbons will last longer than every print cartridge you will own in your entire life combined.
Page 20 - Computer Accessories
Here is the iconic Tac-10 joystick - simple, inexpensive, multi-platform, and high quality.
Page 21 - Computer Accessories
This looks like the final days for Texas Instruments software.
Page 22 - Disks
The Electronics Boutique disk boxes have a great aesthetic. I 100% mean that. They are both 1980s and the 1980s vision of the future at the same time.
Page 23 - Computer Classics and store list
The store list is the interesting part to me here. In January 1987 there are no stores in Illinois yet and only one in the entire western half of the country.
T-shirt offer
I wish I could see what that shirt actually looked like. It had to be in color, right?
Questionnaire
The free t-shirt is also a way to collect some market research. The later mailing list cards served the same purpose.
Tags: Electronics Boutique Atari PC Games
